Lentil ‘meat’ balls
All you need to make these delicious 'meat' balls is a hand blender. They will get a nice toasty crust and stay soft on the inside. You can add bread-crumbs (paneermeel) to the mix if you want to make the balls firmer. You could also replace the rice by penne if you prefer them Italian-style.
Ingredients
4 servings
300 g
265 g
400 g
2
90 g
250 g
90 g
Basmati rice
Canned lentils
Canned tomatoes
Fresh tomatoes
Sundried tomatoes
Chestnut mushrooms
Walnuts
70 g
1 TBL sp
1/2 tea sp
1/2 tea sp
1 tea sp
1 tea sp
2 tea sp
2
2 cloves
Tomato puree
Oregano
Chilli flakes
Nutmeg
Ginger powder
Cinnamon
Soy sauce
Onions
Garlic
Prep
5 min
- Dice onion and mince garlic
- Cut mushrooms into quarters
- Cut fresh tomatoes into wedges
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees C
Cook
40 min
Sauté onion and garlic
medium heat ~3 min
Add half of the sauteed onions and garlic into a bowl
keep the other half aside for the sauce, which is started after the balls enter the oven
Add sundried tomatoes, chestnut mushrooms, tomato puree and walnuts to the bowl
Add nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and soy sauce to the bowl and blend with a hand blender
until there are no big chunks left
Add lentils to the mix and form balls
form into golf ball-sized balls, use two spoons if you want to keep your hands clean (you don't have to blend the lentils)
Place the 'meat' balls in the oven
~25 min at 200°C, until they develop a golden-brown crust (they will stay soft on the inside)
Add fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, chilli flakes and oregano
lower heat, season with salt and pepper, and cover with lid and let everything simmer ~15 min
if you have some tomato paste or canned tomatoes left when cooking less portions, feel free to add them for some extra sauce
Cook rice
~10 minutes
